Archive for June, 2010

Tuesday was AWESOME! It was a really long day, but it was great. I left for Jillian’s in Albany at 10:30 AM and arrived pretty much without incident at 12:30 (which for me on my first trip to Albany was pretty amazing).

I parked on Pearl Street and asked the bartender in Jillian’s if there was a better place to park for the entire day. Unfortunately there wasn’t unless I wanted to walk four blocks and possibly get mugged, so I had to keep putting change in the meter every two hours (can you believe I spent five bucks just to make sure my car wouldn’t leave the street).

Jason wasn’t supposed to arrive until 1 so I watched a soccer match at the bar for half an hour….Portugal won against Japan folks, if you didn’t know. Jason arrived right on time and we got to work unloading all the equipment for going live from his truck and setting up the promotions table. The other intern arrived at 1:30 and helped me put up EQX banners all around the bar and outside.

That's Jason!!

Jillian’s is an amazing place. It’s huge and really nice. Everyone was super friendly and helpful and all big fans of EQX. We got all of the on air equipment set up and Jason explained a little of how it all works. We had trouble with our internet connection and there was a lag between the home studio and the portable one we had, which lasted for most of the day unfortunately. Once we were all set up, Jason got to work figuring out what he was going to say while John and I checked out the rest of the building and made sure everything was set for the band to arrive.

Interning at EQX

While we waited we got to meet Mark, the lead guitarist of Ten Year Vamp who was picking up a CD at Jillian’s! It was really cool because today felt like I was really meeting celebrities. Jason got us some food on the EQX tab, which was nice since my pockets have been getting low with all the gas money I am shelling out. The food and atmosphere was great. The band arrived at around 4:30 with their manager and began setting and tuning up. I met Pat and the manager briefly before hand and then Jeff, his girlfriend, and a few other of their buddies arrived and made an appearance on the air, which was fun to see!

Interviewing Rogue Wave on EQX

At around 5:20 we had Rogue Wave come to our table and go on the air for a live interview. It was fun to see an interview live, not coming from a speaker and it was interesting because both of the band members were incredibly shy, even though they get up on stage and perform in front of crowds all the time!

Next, Jason presented them onstage and the band got underway. It was an awesome performance and definitely too short! I took a ton of pictures before helping Jason pack everything back up and put it in his pickup. The band wrapped up and I got my picture taken with them before they left. Jason saw how much I loved the band and gave me their newest CD – he also knows I love Melissa Etheridge so he is going to try to get me tickets to see her on the seventh in Albany! I took a few more pictures and was asked by the general manager if I could send him some of the pictures to put on their website, so maybe you’ll see some of my photos there as well.

I said my goodbyes and headed home. All in all, a productive but long day. I wouldn’t change any of it – I am so happy to have had this opportunity! I can’t wait for work on Thursday and then the Pearl Palooza is this Saturday. It’s going to be a busy rest of the week and more gas money, but it’s a great experience before I take off for a month and head to the New Jersey shore to visit family. This week, I love my life 🙂

For the squeamish or faint of heart, I regret to inform you that, unfortunately, my Monday was not such a good day for 32 meat birds on my farm. The following may be a little too blatant, so by all means, stop reading. But it is important for a few different reasons.

First, for mostly myself, it helps remind me that I may be sort of an “in-between livelihood” person because for the most part I am a regular teen, attending college, hanging with friends, the usual, but my farming life is never far behind. Things like butchering meat birds during the summer and taking care of my laying hens remind me that life can be simple. I am always making things more complicated than they need to be and taking on more than I can handle. Farming allows me to slow down a little and remember that if something can’t be done for the love of it, then it shouldn’t be taken on in the first place. I’ll admit, sometimes that doesn’t factor in with farming, but in today’s age, farming is a choice, not a discipline. We choose to labor night and day over crops and livestock that may not equal out all the money we have put into our work in order to uphold these simple but virtuous qualities of life:

1. Your food does not come from the supermarket or the freezer. Aldo Leopold has a great line in his book A Sand County Almanac that puts into words exactly this: “There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace” -12

2. Family (both the human and otherwise included) is the greatest and most valued gift on this earth.

3. Hard work does build character, even if you don’t realize it until it’s too late

4. Life is about the choices we make and about the responsibilities we owe to the world around us and to each other

5. The simple things in life are best – like a meadow full of wildflowers, or when a newborn lamb comes bounding down a hill like nothing could make it happier

6. What goes around comes around – treat everything you touch with kindness, and it will return the favor

7. Never take anything that you possess in this world for granted – because when it comes right down to it, we don’t own anything besides the decisions we enact

8. Nothing is straight forward when it comes to farming – for everyone, it’s a learning experience that is most

Getting your food the right way....

definitely taught by trial and error. There’s ups and downs (mostly downs with some great ups) and if you don’t learn quickly that a very open-ended sense of humor is needed to survive, farming won’t be a lifestyle choice for long

9. Killing is something that will take place on a farm, there is no getting around it. However, there is a lot you can learn from the experience when the animal is respected. Learn a little more about the struggle here if you like.

10. God has a sick sense of humor sometimes – live with it.

So, Monday morning at 7:30, Monte arrived and we got to work. Monte has been in the slaughtering business for most of his life and he is damn good at it. He does on-site slaughtering and travels just about everywhere for his work. He is quick, a hoot to talk to (he’s got more stories than anyone I know), and most importantly, he believes that the work he does is crucial to both the people and animals around him. Like most of the Vermont and New York farmers, he believes that an animals death is just as important as the life it lived. The birds we had raised this year were being split with a friend of ours who is just getting started in the farming business. Monte set up his equipment while we

Monte at work

carried over the birds. They get placed in these cone-shaped holders, allowing their heads to poke through the bottom so that Monte can quickly and carefully dispatch them with a knife and let the blood drain out. Water is heated to a certain temperature to scald the dead birds’ feathers, loosening them for plucking. The birds are then held over a plucking machine, which is pretty much pieces of rubbers on a wheel that spins. It is efficient and much faster than by hand. Monte cools them off in cold water and then guts them on a sanitary table. It’s amazing to watch him work at the speed he does, all the while holding a conversation about another farming experience. Monte is incredibly knowledgable and will answer any questions we put to him, always with smile and a laugh.

Our freezer is now set for the winter and we can rest easy knowing that it was a job well done. I know many people who may disagree with the farming method, but I am proud to have grown up the way I have. At an early age, I learned respect, responsibility, and a contentedness with the life I lead.

How many people can say they learned all of that from public school?

I took a brief video of the de-feathering process and a few birds at the knife. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it or view at your own discretion. I know that sounds harsh, but I am a farmer, this is what happens on a farm and how we get food on the table in the best way we know how. I want to show this because it’s a reality that I am proud to be a part of and has been taking place on farms for hundreds of years. With that said, I hope that maybe it will shed a little light on some of our less shining moments as farmers, but also the important role it plays in this form of lifestyle.

It’s summer means a lot of different things for different people – sun, beach-bums, outdoor activities, family vacations, you get the idea. For my family, it means all of those things, plus something else that happens on the weekends – town-wide yard sales and book sales!!! Castleton’s town-wide was this Saturday and my sister and I made a day out of it. I can’t say it was the greatest turn out for people setting up, but it was just nice to get out and route through some other people’s junk 🙂 I didn’t find any treasures, but my sister found a few goodies – a water heater and a few mugs for making tea in her office, a puzzle for my aunt when we visit in a few weeks, and few other small things. All in all, we spent a grand total of about $3 for a day of fun. We came home, ate some lunch, and I washed my sheets and the dishes while my sister vacuumed – things we had been meaning to do for a while, but of course kept putting off.

My dad, who had been working the B shift at the college (7 AM to 3 PM), grilled some pork chops and we made mashed potatoes for dinner. After our movie success (ha!) last night, we decided to steer clear and watched some NCIS on TV. I had kind of fallen out of touch with the show for a few years, but now I want to see every episode. At 9 the new Doctor Who was on – another show we all enjoy watching together. If you haven’t kept up with the series or wish to keep your untainted ears clean of spoilers, stop reading now.

It’s fun because its something my father grew up watching as a kid and still likes to watch, while we grew up watching some of the later “Doctor Who” versions, but loving it just as much. I have to say, I got really attached to David Tennant, so I wasn’t too big a fan of the new guy, but I like his companion a lot (*spoiler* even though they did kill Rory off….I really liked him…..*sigh* British TV shows always go too far….look at what they did with Primeval!).

The latest episodes dealt with a trip back in time to meet Vincent Van Gogh, the famous painter. This was probably one of my favorite episodes of the new season for a few reasons. One, I liked the double meanings and implied symbology of the subject. The idea of using the common monsters of Doctor Who as representations of the demons we all have inside us was brilliant. The actor portraying Van Gogh really did a great job of showing how sometimes our own demons get the best of us and can be far more dangerous than anything in ‘real’ life. We struggle with our own insecurities and inner devils while trying to find a place outside ourselves where we can feel like we belong to something greater. At times (and often with those that have the most potential), we don’t succeed, but instead remain alone and rejected. Another implied symbolism that was used was with the time traveling itself. They brought Van Gogh into the future to see his own exhibit, where the art historian described him as the greatest artist to have ever lived. Van Gogh is in tears of joy as they bring him back to his own time, with his own words of happiness and coming success on his lips when the Doctor and Amy leave. Amy believes that because he knew how much he would be loved in the future, he would be able to push past his own demons and would not take his own life. Unfortunately, their meddling did not change the outcome of his life, but rather influenced his style through a few select paintings.

The moral? Some demons just can’t be overcome, no matter what the future may bring. It’s a bit depressing, but on the other hand, I enjoy the refreshing morals and the fact that they did in fact bring something great into a life that Van Gogh deemed a confine or prison of his own depression. Van Gogh was another great artist who was thought to be crazy and worthless at the time, only to be revered long after his death. Doctor Who presented a passionate understanding of how Van Gogh’s way of seeing nature opened our eyes to the beautiful wonders of the world around us. Others have put it much more succinctly than myself, but I enjoy trying my hand at understanding the mysterious Doctor 😉

Secondly, this episode rocked because of the music. Athlete is now one of my favorite bands (this week 😉 ) because they used their newest single during Van Gogh’s trip to the future. It fit perfectly in the atmosphere of Van Gogh’s immense joy at seeing his successful future, as well as the sadness of how that future just wasn’t enough to change the state of Van Gogh’s depression. It’s a great song and I love that they used it on Doctor Who – I hope you like it too! I highly recommend checking out some of their other songs, such as Black Swan Song, if you have the time. Thanks for reading!

Friday was move day for a lot of people apparently, which meant 80 degree heat while waiting in a queue for the stairs to become available while holding a TV set. On the other hand, it was raining cats and dogs, so what better day to move?

A friend of mine was moving out of his little apartment in little ol’ Poultney and moving up in the world (both literally and figuratively) to the world of Ludlow where he could be closer to his work. Ludlow is an awesome town – it’s a bit of a resort town because it is the home of Okemo mountain, but it’s not too much of a resort destination to make the locals go crazy with the prospect of easy-earned cash. It’s definitely not as desolate as Poultney (sorry, but it’s true) and yet it isn’t over the top.

His new apartment was located in an old hotel that was renovated for time share opportunities – and let me tell you, this place would please even the most seasoned time share family! With its own kitchen, deck overlooking the river, fireplace, full bedroom and bath, and being fully furnished and stocked, this apartment was one of the nicest ones I have ever seen! After we finally got everything unloaded from both our vehicles and into the apartment, we stopped for food. It was a nice walk downtown and we decided to stop and eat at The Pot Belly Pub & Restaurant. They serve some pretty great food with local enhancements – they make their own root beer, a Vermont burger with Angus beef, quite a few dishes involving local maple syrup, and more. It was a delicious lunch after a long day of hard work!

The drive back to Poultney from Ludlow is one of the most beautiful and easy drives! I arrived back home wishing it had lasted a bit longer, but it was good to be back in time for dinner and a movie. We are still working our way through my dad’s birthday DVD’s, so we decided to stick in one we hadn’t seen yet – ala Knowing.

In retrospect…….I think we are going to see if they’ll buy it back from us. That movie was wacked. It was not what we were expecting, which sometimes can be a good thing, but this time…..I don’t know. It was interesting in a way, but also pretty depressing and definitely isn’t going on our “favorites” shelf. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my Friday in a nut shell.

Thursday was mostly an up. I arrived at EQX to work and Jason immediately pushed a copy of Stephenie Myer’s newest adult novel, The Host, into my hands because they had receive about fifty more copies than they had originally wanted.

On the other hand, it was sort of a down day because they didn’t have that much for me to do. So I set about creating an excel spreadsheet for one of their promotional events – “show us your green and we’ll give you our green” campaign. By having local and Capital District area businesses that are either trying to go “green” or have “green” in the title of their business as sponsors, they could receive publicity and all expense paid trips from EQX! In addition, I put together a “dirt” list of everything to do with the band Rogue Wave as EQX will be at Jillian’s this Tuesday to interview them and do a live show! EQX will be broadcasting live from 3 to 6 and the band starts playing at 5:30, so come give us a shout out!. I’m a little nervous because Jason said he might put me on the air, but I am also really excited!!

I didn’t get too far on all of my excel lists today at EQX because – yup, here it comes – the computer had a heart attack and went completely hay-wire. A virus got onto the system that I was using, which also happens to be the computer that keeps track of our live streaming feeds….so its breaking down wasn’t such a good thing. They were still trying to fix it when Amber told me I could go home. It was a little aggravating to leave on such a strenuous note., but either way, I am siked about going to Jillian’s on Tuesday to meet a great band, visit Albany for the first time, maybe go on air live, and get to hang out in one of the areas hottest nightclubs! It’s going to be an awesome experience – and this time, I’ll definitely be charging extra batteries 😉

Song of the day: Song Away by Hockey:

Tomorrow’s just a song away, so why not sing our troubles into an oblivion? Yup, another great song about love lost and love won. The music video is great, and though I am a little confused about the lyrics, I still love them. Simple as that – it’s an awesome song.

One more happy thought – I got a really pleasant surprise today. My new bike came 4 days early and it. is. awesome!!! I am so excited, I can’t wait to take it for a spin tomorrow. Off to watch more NCIS before bed, then I’m going to help a friend move out of his apartment here in Poultney to his new and awesome apartment in Ludlow! It’s been one hell of a week and it’s not over yet! Tomorrow’s just a world away….

It’s been a regular Wiiiinnndddssday here on the Miller farm. I have pretty much deemed my Wednesday’s “Veg Day” (ta-ta-ta-ta-taaaa!!!), unless otherwise subjected to different circumstances……aka, something exciting actually takes place in there of my soon-to-be tradition of plopping on the couch to watch re-runs of NCIS (it’s Dear Abby week, people!!! Gotta love that goth-is-golden girl!!). *sigh*, alas, no such wonders occurred yesterday, but I was content with sleeping extremely late, zoning out with the remote, playing with our chicks, and of course eating way more than I should have. All in all, a perfectly uneventful day, wouldn’t you say?

On a funny and totally unrelated side-note, a while back I noticed that someone stole the stop sign at the end of our road, and was finally replaced yesterday, so that’s nice. Eh, on a dead-end road in Poultney on a Wednesday, that’s interesting stuff folks.

Song of the day: Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root

Yes, I know, I’m doing a lot of these this week, but its been one of those kinds of weeks. Too little of my own inspiration becomes subject to someone elses. Plus, music is a great anti-depressent…..or depressent, depending upon the chosen genre 🙂 In my opinion, music fits each and every mood humanly imaginable, matching a feeling with a beat, a unvoicable emotion with a tune. There are those rainy day songs, those get-up-and-dance motivators, ‘lost in my own little world of depression’ mood-suckers, and even stuff that just plain makes you laugh. As you will read in my next post, the up’s and down’s of life fit perfectly into each and every week, but thankfully, they all have a song to boot.

Today’s special is a little something I think we’ve practically all heard before – every four-year old in America has probably heard it now-a-days. That’s because its been used in Ice Age, Shrek, and a bunch of other Pixar/Disney classics. But it’s more than that for which I love it – here come those happy day feelings again……

For example, this song provokes the a-typical ‘joy-riding with my head out the sunroof on a sunny day’ feeling with perhaps a dash of ‘hiking through a meadow with a smile on my face.’ Maybe it’s just me – different people, different emotions, different songs. What do you think? My happiest memories were often spent in a car, thousands of miles from home in a cramped SUV for 12 hours, so a song like this makes me want to jump in a car and take off and travel the great 48’s – but hey, we all have different triggers 😉

Rusted Root is an awesome band and if you are in the area on July 3rd, Albany is hosting its first big music festival called Pearl-Palooza on Pearl Street with Rusted Root as its starring band. We Are Scientists, Locksley, and Civil Twilight will be there as well, plus a ton of street bands all day! It’s from 12 to 6 and for all ages – check out more information here. I’ll be there with EQX, so stop by and say hi!! Off to tomorrow, where it’s just another world away…

Today was another full-blown work day at EQX! I can’t believe how much I am able to accomplish there in just four hours…..I definitly can’t say I’m not getting my times worth at this internship! Along with all the new experiences and talents I am beginning to acquire, the free CD’s and concerts aren’t too shabby either 😉

I feel as though my feet never touched the ground today – I was copying CD’s and adding them to their master computer, updating the website, posting events, writing up PSA’s, all kinds of awesome stuff. It’s awesome to know that in a matter of three weeks I have been able to learn so much! On that note, I asked Jeff if I could have a copy of the commercial I did on air for R.K Miles. I have it in a crappy windows movie maker video with some pictures because wordpress won’t allow me to upload audio, but if you are interested in hearing me make a fool out of myself, by all means.

The rest of my day was spent feeding bugs and grubs to our Guinea Hen chicks and making rhubarb jam. Canning is another aspect of my home life that I grew up with. I can remember my mom forcing me to stir giant pots of jam for the farmers market in 80 degree heat for about an hour……yup, painful memories at times, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Now, my sister and I try to keep up with our two rhubarb patches. Strawberry rhubarb is my favorite, but strawberries are too expensive around here. The rhubarb by itself is pretty good, as long as you add enough sugar 🙂 We’ve made about 22 jars so far this year and we will probably do at least another batch. Please feel free to ask me via comment for the recipe if you like!

Our garden is starting to take shape too. We’ve got four different kinds of squash, two kinds of tomatoes, Lima beans, carrots, pumpkins, potatoes, and a small herb population on our porch! All the rain and heavy storms has really given our garden a run for our money, but they seem to be a hardy bunch and most of them have made it through. Now, we can only help them along and hope for the best. We didn’t tend a garden last year and we missed it dearly.

I never want to be stuck somewhere in my life that doesn’t allow me the opportunity to plant my own garden – after all, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” And that’s what we all have to do – “believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help to create the fact.” Gardens make this possible in the best kind of way: no matter how shitty your life may seem, if you’ve planted the seeds to soe for another day, it means your going get through it and that someday soon everything in your life will blossom. Just a little “food” for thought……..

Chicks love to play and are full of energy, so throwing a twig or leaf into their pen is like Christmas. One chick will take off with it and start running around in circles while all the other chicks try to get it for themselves. It is really quite funny to watch and is how I spent part of my Monday – it’s the simple things in life that make us the happiest, am I right?

Another good portion of my day was spent relaxing on the porch and attempting to accomplish a few things on my

Calvin and Hobbes teach us about the joy of drawing

summer to-do list. One of those things was to finish some sketches I had started a while back in this scrap-book I am trying to put together. I suck at art (unfortunately, eight years of 4-H just couldn’t correct my gene faults) and especially drawing, so when I sit down with paper and pencil, it’s usually trying to copy a picture that I like. This in itself is an extreme effort for me, but I enjoy it because drawing is one of those single-train-of-thought tasks that begs all of your attention, while at the same time not asking for all that much. I can just let everything else go as I set out to accomplish just one thing for the pure enjoyment of it. I finished one sketch and made a few advancements on another before giving in to my nerves and putting it down.

Next, I tried to accomplish something else that was on my list – writing! I L-O-V-E to write. It’s the second best thing to reading in my book (no pun intended) and I try to write any chance I get. I have a great imagination and love to utilize it whenever I can. Unfortunately, I often have trouble putting into words what goes on in my head and it never comes out as well as I would like…..but I guess that’s something that plagues all writers, isn’t it? Either way, I set out to write something, anything really just to write for the sake of putting pen to paper. There’s a story that’s been brewing in my head for about a year now and I’ve been mostly working out the bugs in my head (when I had the spare time to let it wonder off by itself), but I still hadn’t really worked out a beginning. For me, beginnings are always the toughest because they speak not only of origins and characters, but of how the entire story will develop.

So, I decided to try to tackle it as best as I could and I got about four pages of meaningless gibberish. On the other hand, it did help me work out a few more aspects of my tale that I had been floundering with and as always, it was like meeting an old friend to have my hand cramp up from scribbling too fast. Those are the moments I love best about summer – when I am free to express all the joys of living through things that can only be done when time and peace of mind are on your side.

Unfortunately, a good friend of ours was on the road this Father’s Day – his mother is not doing so well and hasn’t been for quite some time, so he and his family went to Rhode Island on Father’s Day to see her one last time. They helped her get comfortable back at home and are now just trying to make the best of it. Talk about a sucky Father’s Day present…..our prayers are with him and his family and we feel bad because that’s about all we can do. Life tends to have a sick sense of humor sometimes.

There is this cartoon TV show called The Penguins of Madagascar…..yes, I know I am taking an analogy towards life from a kids cartoon, but sometimes the simplest acts of inspiration are the most potent. In one episode in particular, one penguin is having some particularly bad luck and is told that the universe is watching over him…..that is, until he gets run over. Then, one of the other penguins states that “perhaps the universe blinked.”

I love these flightless birds 😉

That’s my position on a lot of the bad things that happen in life. Life is a mess and sometimes the universe takes a holiday.

For my own dad’s Father Day celebration, things went a lot better. We had purchased him a bunch of movies to watch, including the latest Harry Potter movie, Taken (a movie we saw in the theater and loved), Mission Impossible III (which he loves), and Knowing with Nicholas Cage, which we haven’t seen yet, but sounds good.

We spent the day playing Scrabble, grilling sausages for lunch, watching movies, and eating Egg Foo Young together. We also watched some more episodes of NCIS, including one from this season. I truly love that show! The only shadow we had during this Father’s Day was the knowledge that someone else was not having the same pleasant day as us. To that end, I hope that most of you had a good Father’s Day.

On another note, I made a dent in my family’s pride at holding birthday secrets. I am not usually the type of person to pull out all the stops and turn into a nutcase to find out what my family has gotten me for my birthday or other holidays. Unfortunately, I asked a few too many questions about trying to re-do a bike I bought at a yard sale and caused my dad to spill the beans – I’m getting a bike as an early birthday present for when we visit my family at the beach the second week of July!! It’s an old-style cruiser bike which is perfect for the beach – I am sooooo excited! It’s supposed to arrive by the 28th of this month, but now that I know it’s coming, I’m having trouble being patient 🙂 This is going to be an awesome summer – and it’s already been awesome!!

Yes, Saturday may seem like a bit of a repeat – but here’s the thing: when you’ve got something good going, why not do it again? So, my sister and I played with the baby Guinea Hens in the morning and spent most of the afternoon reading at the dock on our pond and sun tanning on one of the most beautiful days we’ve had so far.

My dad did some gardening and enjoyed some of the sun with us before heading off to work. My sister and I went back to the porch to relax with a game of Scrabble and some dinner. We’re not much of a board game family and it doesn’t happen often, but we all enjoy playing Scrabble because….well, partly it’s because we all suck at it and the other half is that because we suck at it we get pretty wacky. My sister and spelling don’t really mix, so she often tries to get her points through words that no dictionary would recognize. Myself and my dad are pretty good, so we enjoy driving her nuts with words that get us 28 points. On the other hand, we all get so frustrated when we end up with 3 V’s and a Q and Z, so we start getting punchy at that point 🙂

After our fabulous game of merciful hilarity, we checked up on the chicks again and spent the rest of the evening laid up on the couch watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and episodes of NCIS with a sunburn to beat all sunburns.

Yup, all in all, a rather awesome Saturday. We also have some pretty great plans for Father’s Day tomorrow and since it’s supposed to be so nice out, I can’t wait!